Artist: Harry Gould Harvey IV
Exhibition title: LEVEL LEVEL
Venue: Cordova, Barcelona, Spain
Date: May 9 – July 8, 2024
Photography: Roberto Ruiz, all images copyright and courtesy of the artist and Cordova
LEVEL LEVEL is a solo exhibition by Harry Gould Harvey IV developed in response to the spatial configuration of the gallery. It begins with two drawings – a central tenet of Harvey’s practice – displayed behind the reception desk. These works on paper, entitled ShⒶdows B444 Babylon and W/h/Ⓔ/n D\r\e\a\m\i\n\g, were produced as part of a larger series in the lead up to the opening, and for the artist set the tone for the rest of the exhibition. Their imagery, language and symbolism can be used as a viewfinder through which to look at the rest of the show.
Following on, Oj□ Rojo LEVEL LEVEL, is positioned in the first main exhibition space, a light installation consisting of twelve laser levels installed in a horizontal line roughly aligned to the height of the artist’s heart and positioned vertically with one another to create a grid. These particular lasers are used in construction to secure consistent straight lines, but the technology has its origins in military use and for the artist they point to both precision and surveillance.
Moving into the back gallery, there is a line of small sculptures and found objects bookended by two small pencil drawings framed in Juglans nigra (black walnut). These components are arranged together to form the singular work RⒶhⒶb’s Scarlet Chord, and hung at the same height as the horizontal laser line from the previous room. The majority of the objects are carved industrial red wax, the sacrificial byproduct material used in lost wax casting, a technique used by artists for 3000+ years. The original form to be cast is made and then melted out to be replaced by bronze or another metal with significantly more value than the wax itself. The work also includes several pieces of wood, carved down from full tree limbs, one of which is Ilex Opaca (Hollywood), an evergreen hardwood that pertains to the native ecology of the artist’s region and holds in its name a cultural resonance to the film industry. Accompanying the wall work is Metro/Nomos, one blue and one red faux wood metronome positioned side by side. The metronomes produce a sequential beat which repeats. While they are set to their own timings there are moments where they sync. Together they do in sound what the lasers do in space.
The exhibition extends onto the patio where a single red balloon is tied to the blue helium tank that fills it daily. For the artist the materiality of this piece – and in fact in all of the pieces – contains in itself a conceptual symbolism. Helium is a material that has the will to escape from our terrestrial atmosphere, constantly reaching up and out of this world into the sky above.
